Berry Swirl Raw Cheesecake

I've played around with a few raw vegan cheesecakes in my time, and like my other raw cheesecakes, this one is made with CASHEWS is the filling. If you’re sceptical about cashews’ ability to replace luxuriously creamy cream cheese, you wouldn’t be the first. I was skeptical for a while…until I tried it.

I find using JUST cashews gets a) expensive, but also b) can make the filling quite hard and dense.

Fine if that's your thing, but I've mixed this one with some coconut yoghurt for a lighter feel.  This is certainly a recipe you'll have to plan ahead and won't be able to whip up in 10 minutes flat (like many of my others!), but the soak time is essential for the creamy consistency you want.  

You can really substitute any nut in the base if you whizz it up into a flour. Sunflowers would work, as would walnuts, pecans or brazil nuts.  You can also really use any fruit you please for the swirl. Mangoes would be another fabulous option for a Tropicana cheesecake!

If you'd like to grab yourself some essential oils to use in your kitchen creations, or heck, just to overhaul the toxic load in your life then get started here or flick me an email and let's chat.As always, I'd love to hear if you try this and welcome your feedback. Happy creating fellow foodies x 

Easy, delicious and perfect to wow a crowd, this raw cheesecake is packed with goodness!

Cheesecake Base

• 1 cup dates, soaked in boiling water for 30 mins

• 1 + 1/2 cups almond meal

Cheesecake filling

• 1 + 1/2 cups cashew nuts, soaked for 4 hours in boiling water or overnight)

• 1 + 1/4 cups vanillla coconut yoghurt

• 1/4 cup maple syrup or rice malt syrup

• 4 drops doTERRA lemon essential oil (or 1/4 cup lemon juice)

Berry Swirl

• 1 cup defrosted mixed berries

Directions:

1. Place the cashew nuts in a small bowl and cover with water. Leave to soak for 4 hours or overnight.

2. The next morning, or 4 hours later, place the dates in a small bowl and cover with boiling water and leave for 30 minutes to soften (you can skip this step if using Medjool dates). Meanwhile, place baking paper into a 20cm cake tin, preferably one with the spring detachable sides for ease of removing the cheesecake.

3. Into a food processor place, softened dates and almond meal and whiz until combined. It may form a ball in the processor, but just stop and spread the mixture out in the bowl again until evenly combined.

4. Press the base mixture into the cake tin and ensure it is evenly spread.

5. In a high-speed blender (or the cleaned bowl of your food processor), place the soaked cashews, coconut yoghurt, maple syrup and lemon oil.Process until silky smooth. Taste and add more sweetener if desired.

6. Defrost the berries and then use an immersion blender (stick mixer) to blend them until they're smooth (jam-like).

7. Pour half the cheesecake filling onto the base. Now place tablespoons of the berry mix on top of the cheesecake filling until you've used 1/3 of the berry mix. Pour remaining cheesecake filling over the berries and smooth the top.

8. With another 1/3 of the berries, pour them over the surface of your cheesecake, then get a kebab skewer and start in the middle making a spiral shape outwards. This will make the swirl effect of the berries in the cheesecake. Reserve the final 1/3 cup of berries for a garnish.

9. Place the cheesecake in the freezer for 2-3 hours until firm.Set it on the bench for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

The cheesecake can be kept in the fridge if you're eating it in 2-3 days, otherwise, it freezes well and is great defrosted slowly in the fridge.

You can also eat it frozen in a bowl like frozen yoghurt with cookie chunks!